As the first Robin, Dick Grayson was one of the most famous sidekicks in fiction before maturing into the independent hero Nightwing. Dick was also a founding member of the Teen Titans and an auxiliary member of the Justice League. After Ultraman revealed his identity to the world, Dick faked his death with Batman's help and went undercover to infiltrate the global spy organization Spyral.

Off My Mind: Will Nightwing and Batgirl Hook Up in DC's 'New 52'?

Whether comic readers want to admit it or not, comic books are like soap operas. Besides the serial nature of the writing, love and relationships are often a factor when the heroes aren't punching villains in the face. There have been some great relationships portrayed in comics such as Spider-Man and Mary Jane, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, Superman and Lois Lane and so on.

You'll notice that some of those 'great couples' up above are no longer together. Part of the reason is reading about them trying to get together adds more spice to the stories. Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon are another couple that are meant to be together but for various reasons seem to be apart more than they're together.

With the changes we'll be seeing in DC's "The New 52" relaunch, what will happen between these two young lovers? We know Dick is going back to his roots by becoming Nightwing again and Barbara will be jumping back into her Batgirl identity. With the freedom these roles allow them and the minor tweaks being made to their characters, will we see Nightwing and Batgirl get back together again?

== TEASER ==

What went wrong with them before? There was always a flirtation and attraction between the two. It never fully had a chance to go anywhere. The biggest blow in their relationship was when Barbara finally decided she wanted to make things official. Finding the nerve to fully tell Dick how she felt, she went to his apartment to tell him exactly how she felt. The problem was she waited just a little too long. Dick had started a relationship with his fellow Teen Titans member, Starfire. When Starfire answered the door, Barbara was shocked, embarrassed and heart broken. Even though Dick's relationship with Kori lasted a while and the two almost got married, it's always been clear that Barbara was his true love.

Over the years, the two have shared their feelings towards each other. During the 'No Man's Land' storyline, they came to terms with how they felt and Dick even proposed to Barbara right before the 'One Year Later' storyline. It was Barbara that pulled away, wanting Dick to be sure he had time to find himself.

Even though Barbara getting shot by the Joker put an end to her Batgirl identity, she stayed in the superhero game by becoming the information broker, Oracle. Despite this, Dick and Barbara didn't quite have the opportunity to operate side-by-side. This is the problem some other comic book couples face. Spider-Man and Mary Jane or Superman and Lois Lane may have had committed relationships but with one not being a hero in the thick of the action, it almost becomes hard for the other to relate to their world.

What will the relaunches mean for the characters? We're seeing some interesting tweaks being made with some characters but Batman writer Scott Snyder has Tweeted that events in the Batman Universe will still stick. Dick has always been carefree and a bit immature but we've seen incredible growth with him during his time as Batman in the pages of Detective Comics. As he may be ready to set down roots in Gotham City, this could also mean he's ready to have Barbara by his side as he creates those roots.

Starfire may have been a sore point between the two. From what we've seen and heard about Starfire's role in the upcoming Red Hood and the Outlaws, it almost sounds as if this Starfire won't have had a history with Dick. That means no awkward memories or resentment from when Barbara discovered they were an item.

Of course it there's also the fact that Barbara doesn't necessarily need a man in her life. She's done a superb job re-establishing herself after being shot by Joker. Her heart may belong to Dick and Dick may be showing signs of maturing, but he might not be completely ready or deserving quite yet.

Dick will be spending time in Gotham but will also be hanging out with Haley's Circus trying to find out more about his past (at least by the look of things in the first few issues of the new series). Barbara will somehow get her superhero identity back and maybe it'd be better for her to adjust to these changes before heading back to Dick's arms. And from the look of the cover to Batgirl #3, they might not be hooking up just yet.

Never really liked Babs and Dick together, it seemed forced I prefer Dick and Kory,

I agree. I would have liked to have seen more of Babs and Kord too. Nerd love is adorable. I do love that shot of Dick crying in Barbara's lap though. For the life of me I can't remember where it's from.

From what I hear, Starfire and Red Hood are now dating in this revamp. I like to think that she is still Dick's ex and that now she's with Jason. Because that would cause for some good crossovers where Dick and Jason continuously fight each other. I also think that Dick is only immature around Bruce so that he can try to lighten Bruce's mood. He gets pretty serious when he's around anyone else. Especially his teammates in the Teen Titans, Titans, Outsiders, and the JLA. He turns into Batman-Lite then because he has a reputation to keep up as a Bat member.

From what I hear, Starfire and Red Hood are now dating in this revamp. I like to think that she is still Dick's ex and that now she's with Jason. Because that would cause for some good crossovers where Dick and Jason continuously fight each other. I also think that Dick is only immature around Bruce so that he can try to lighten Bruce's mood. He gets pretty serious when he's around anyone else. Especially his teammates in the Teen Titans, Titans, Outsiders, and the JLA. He turns into Batman-Lite then because he has a reputation to keep up as a Bat member.

I damn well hope Dick and Babs get together. As for the issue #3 cover I've learnt not to always believe what they depict, the conflict shown my very well just be a mask up of intended intimacy within the issues pages!

if Dick and Babs do end up together again in the new DC, i hope it's a slow and steady build-up as far as the storytelling goes. let them start out as getting on each other's nerves like the strip above showed.

I like them together, and while I agree that watching the courtship phase of a relationship is always exciting, I would love to see a writer try and handle writing a long lasting serious relationship between two characters.

If they were to reunite just because now she can walk. That would be the utter definition of "The more things change. The more they stay the same.".

Isn't the whole point of rebooting because you've written yourselves into a corner and need to do something different? That's yet another thing I hate about reboots, and the pseudo-breakups that come out of them. Best example being the Clark and Lois breakup. They split them apart just so they can end up back together again. No matter how well you write it. Knowing the final outcome is boring and pointless.

I like Barbara but the relationship with Dick has run it's course. Kory was his sweetheart, but with Babs it was more of a flirty/platonic thing and she was too damn clingy for a free spirit like him. Of course, he doesn't NEED a love interest(just yet)...although it might spice things up. Please not with Batgirl though. Lord....

Since they are both part of the "Batman Family" doesn't that make them brother and sister and therefore an incestuous relationship?Is the REALLY the kind of message we want to send to young impressionable minds who read comics? LMAO!

I don't really see why Barbara has to be Batgirl for them to be in a relationship and disagree with G-man on the point of "but with one not being a hero in the thick of the action, it almost becomes hard for the other to relate to their world"

because in alot of marriages (I'd even go out on a limb and say the majority) spouses do not have the same occupation or even the same educational background or set of skills. Yet their marriage works even though they aren't a part of the others working world. Also consider military families (i.e. me being in the military and my wife not). My wife (and just about every other military wife) isn't going on deployments overseas, we sometimes spend months apart, and in the end she doesn't have a 100% understanding of a military unit because she's not part of it every single day........and that's fine because we aren't married because she understands my job. We're married because we understand each other.

This is why I'll always defend the marriage of Clark and Lois/Peter and MJ (though to be honest he could have married Gwen and it would have been the same thing) and voice my disapointment to the end of them because those two marriages highlighted what marriage was really about........each person able to complete the other in life as a whole not just in the aspect of being a hero. Plus each wife had a job and life outside of the superhero community. Lois and MJ weren't like Sue Dibney waiting for their man to get home from beating up the bad guys looking for dinner. Yet they are a vital aspect of both Clark and Peter's character and life because they provide that connection to a normal, slower paced life that they can enjoy just with their spouse away from fighting the forces of evil. Does that mean that Lois and MJ don't worry about their husbands and miss their absences, of course it doesn't, just like any military spouse misses that soldier/sailor/airmen when they are apart. But that doesn't mean they can't relate to and complete each other. These are definitely bigger concept issues than most kids reading a comic book are going to think about but I think DC and Marvel are doing a disservice to older/life long fans of comics by not giving us at least 1 good stable relationship. There are plenty of other characters to show flirting and chasing tail that they can keep these together.

Getting back to Babs and Dick, the other aspect to this is that Dick still cared for Babs even though she can't be Batgirl. Just look at Detective Comics 881 and you can see how focused Dick was on solely finding and protecting her to anything else. Nothing really changed between them with Babs being Oracle so to say they can only get together now that she's Batgirl again is a little silly and feels more fan-made than real writing and planning on DC's part.

Since they are both part of the "Batman Family" doesn't that make them brother and sister and therefore an incestuous relationship?Is the REALLY the kind of message we want to send to young impressionable minds who read comics? LMAO!

Dick is only related to Bruce via adoption as a ward, where as Babs is related to Commissioner Gordon. They are both members of the Bat 'Family' due to their hero names and connection to Batman in their superhero careers. Dick and Babs are not blood related or traditionally family linked in any way, so no there is no incestuous relation in them being together!

From what I hear, Starfire and Red Hood are now dating in this revamp. I like to think that she is still Dick's ex and that now she's with Jason. Because that would cause for some good crossovers where Dick and Jason continuously fight each other.

Beautiful. I could write a whole blog on this, but how I feel is basically summed up in a couple of points. I hope that Dick still had a relationship with Starfire (or the same relationship but with someone else) , since it adds spice to the Babs + Dick relationship. I hope that both of them get back together, since they haven't really been together before babs got shot and put in the wheel chair. I disagree that Dick isn't deserving of the relationship, since that immature streak is kind of what Babs likes in him. And yeah, I won't go on for too long...

2) It's been confirmed in interviews that DCnU's K-O-R-Y will still have a history with Dick Grayson.

3) "Even though Dick's relationship with Kori lasted a while and the two almost got married, it's always been clear that Barbara was his true love."

Um the whole time he was with Starfire (K-O-R-Y) Babs wasn't mentioned once by him. Read the Wolfman/Perez Titans run. In fact, Dick doesn't mention or interact with Babs from the early 80's until the early/mid 90's. The first time he even mentions her after he after he and K-O-R-Y get together is in KNIGHTFALL and it's in passing "Oracle told me..."

4) I'm not denying that Dick and Babs are together, were together and love eachother...but a huge part of their romantic history is retcons. Dick didn't pine for Babs in the 80's and make K-O-R-Y his second choice. There are comics in the early 80's where Babs is with Jason Bard as his date at functions and Dick see's them without bating an eye or skipping a beat. After their flirtation in BATMAN FAMILY ended there was no romance until the late 90's. I'm not denying there is something between the characters...I'm just saying the history isn't as far spread as legend has it.

5) Prove me wrong by not deleting this comment. I'm told by a friend on here that contrary comments get deleted on your articles. If you don't like being fact checked then tough.

Now I'm not against the idea of the 2 getting back together, i think a large majority of us would love to see them together again, but my hope is that if it dose happen it should be written well, and over a course of many issues (no one-shot "were back together" story). As the bat-continuity is remaning the smae (which dose leave some awkward questions to be asked) then Dick and Babs have gone through all the dramas of the past few years as well as recently becming the heads of the bat-family during Bruces happy-go-lucky jumps through time, so their not the same characters that they were in that first pannel with the poking out utility belt of robins :P Their both far more mature characters who need to be treated as such, so no quick fixes pleas DC.

Now as far as that lovely starfire and Jason idea, i can see (somehow) a way that this Starfire is the same as out lovely pre-september 2011 starfire (i mean she wasn't exactly letting her enemies live in REBELS #22 which dose justify her bing on a team with Jason) but as far as i can guess I'm seeing more of a love-triangle bing made with that series between Jason, Starfire and Roy. (The rebelious, blacksheep brother of her former lover and her old friend who's gone through some hard times and changed)..... I'm also proud that nobodys actualy made a "Dick grasosn sloppy secodns" quote concidering the possibility of this starXjas relationship (though i guess that Captain Comet gets that joke now :P)

@Bertone: I'm pretty sure your friend was wrong. I don't think anyone on this site would delete a comment like yours. This site is made for opinions like yours. But anyways, those are pretty good facts, but I haven't seen Dick and Kory (K-O-R-Y LOL) together since the New Teen Titans so I think that they are pretty much over.

Yea not denying that Dick/Kory are over...I'm just tired of their relationship being retroactively downgraded by fans who haven't read it to say "WELL HE LOVED BABS AND THOUGHT OF HER EVERY NIGHT HE WAS WITH KORY"

@Bertone I agree that when Dick was with Kory, he was with Kory. I think he really did care for Kory and wasn't thinking about getting back with Babs at all.

However, with that said, I've always seen him ending up with Babs because it would be such a great romance. Think about it, Dick and Babs meet as teenagers and it's basically puppy love. Then Dick has an identity crisis and leaves to "find" himself, in the process meets Starfire who is kind of the polar opposite Babs. She's vivacious, energetic, and drips sex. Not saying that Babs isn't attractive, but Starfire is about the most "sexified" woman in the DC, if not comics in general. But, the main character never ends up with the "sexy" partner. Starfire is just the "distraction," the person that keeps two characters from getting together. When the relationship ended, Dick realized that what he needs is someone to keep him grounded like Babs. With Babs I can see Dick having a healthy relationship; they balance each other. Can you really see him going the full distance with Kory? I can see them hooking up quite a bit, maybe even having a kid, but never marriage, never a life-long commitment, it just doesn't work. Starfire is the type of character who can't stay tied down, even if she thinks she wants to, she's much better when she's free to do what she wants.